It's been almost a month, so let's catch up on what St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to in recent weeks! When we last left H.L.T.C., they were preparing to headline the second annual 2nd Street Music Festival on August 10th in their hometown (an all too rare public gig of theirs that is truly "local" for SMS purposes). A "Reel" (unembeddable here as ever) was shared to their Facebook page during the event featuring a few precious seconds of Hannahville death metal band Ghidora's opening set, though it seemed to have been more to focus on headbanging fans. When we previewed the 2nd Street Fest on the SMS last month, I did warn of a 30-40% chance of rain in St. Ignace that night, and unfortunately, those odds didn't swing in the outdoor event's favour, as it did rain during the concert. In spite of the weather, the show went on, and hopefully everyone had a good time! Before getting into videos from that night, there is a big lineup change to address.
On August 13th, the band revealed on their Facebook page that guitarist Nathan Switzer would be leaving the band again after their show in Grand Rapids on August 23rd. In that post, they referred to Nathan as "our filling (sic) guitarist", despite never visibly referring to Nathan's return as temporary until then. Nathan initially returned to replace Ted Olson on guitar in March, and while things definitely seem amicable with him, remember that he does still live downstate, which may complicate things re: availability for shows and practice and whatnot. Hopefully he stays active in music in any event! The band has brought on Alpena-based musician Kaycee Mason to replace Nathan going forward, who followers of H.L.T.C.'s gigs may know as the drummer of the metal band Katharsys Theory, who they have shared the stage with multiple times for gigs in the Northern Lower, most notably the annual French Road Bash.
Kaycee is better known as a drummer, but how is he as a guitarist? We can see a glimpse in the public videos shared on Heavy Lies The Crown's Facebook page from the 2nd Street Music Fest! If you want to see Kaycee with the guys (after reportedly learning their set in just a week & a half), you can see him guesting with them on "Choke" in this clip. From what I understand, Kaycee was filling in for Nathan for this concert, but signed on as the full replacement after how well things went, though given that both are currently bald, you'd be forgiven for not knowing something changed without reading the band's posts! Also, frontman Brandon West's hair is shorter than ever! Sadly, while not a "Reel", it runs for just 20 seconds, was shot vertically, and is very dark, but things sound good while they last! A better look can be seen in videos shared from attendee Veiruz Grimnirson's personal Facebook page, so what did he film that night?
One clip runs for just 9 seconds and features a moshing attendee during H.L.T.C.'s set, but embedded below is a horizontal (if partially sideways) 3+ minute video that features Kaycee leaving the stage to rock out with attendees on the lawn. Given how wet and slick the stage looks after the rain, I don't blame him in the slightest! I do wish the crowd was bigger (and that it hadn't rained), but the first local gig with Kaycee and Blaze in the fold seemed like it went over well for the enthusiastic metalheads in attendance, and their ferocious original sound is shown off well in Veiruz's video, so check it out for yourselves below!
Cycling back to the August 13th post that announced their guitarist switch, Heavy Lies The Crown finally acknowledged the departure of drummer Jaxon Massaway there. According to the band's post, Jaxon (who was replaced by Blaze Beairl in July) "left to travel the country for a little bit", but will be coming back to the band when he returns, albeit switching to guitar when he does. This would restore H.L.T.C. to a quintet for the first time since Christian Thanasiu left in March 2023, but we don't know when Jaxon will be back in Michigan yet. I do hope to talk about Jaxon's original music in an upcoming post in any event! Interestingly, Heavy Lies The Crown said that they are "in our second phase" in this post, even though this is the (by my count) seventh live lineup that they've had since forming, with Brandon as the only constant. Heavy Lies The Crown next played live over the August 23rd weekend, starting when they opened for Glassfield in Grand Rapids.
We'll touch on what happened there and at this year's French Road Bash in Alpena (Kaycee's official debut as their permanent guitarist) the next day in an upcoming post, but hopefully this single-band post helped us get caught up on what Brandon, Christian, Blaze, and the new/old crew have been up to last month, and that doesn't even include the teased new song that they wrote when Nathan came back (entitled "These Walls"). Stay tuned for much more from Heavy Lies The Crown on the site soon, and for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!
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